Articles by Bethany Ringdal

I recently moved, and let me tell you, I’ve been soaking up every awesome moment of setting up the new space. Now, all of a sudden, I have an excuse to spend time on Pinterest. I can spend hours scrolling through all the pretty things, a beauty-drugged screen zombie. On a trip to Target recently,…

This guest post was written by Tori Greer, who describes herself as a “lover of love, Jesus, tiny animals, classic literature, música, and the written and spoken word.” You can find more of her writing at https://www.theodysseyonline.com/@victoriagreer Good Samaritan: noun. A charitable or helpful person We’ve all heard the term “good Samaritan.” It’s thrown around in…

Another shooting by police. This time, a neighbor. Here’re my thoughts right now. They’re kind of raw. Philando Castile worked in an elementary school cafeteria. He lived just minutes away from where I grew up. He drew his last breath, facing a police gun during a traffic stop, just minutes away from my school. Philando…

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. In the Catholic church I was a part of growing up, we recited the Apostles Creed at every Mass. At our other church, we didn’t recite the creed, but it felt as though it’s truths were implicit. (Read more about my ecumenical upbringing…

The four writers of Saying Grace got together for dinner and a meeting tonight. We planned this gathering weeks ago, to scheme up some fresh new content for you… but then Orlando happened. We spent our night brainstorming on how to respond. We practically wrote a whole post, and then trashed it. We have plenty…

If you’ve been following Saying Grace lately, you know that us four writers spent the month of May experimenting with the practice of body prayer. Our rules? 1) try to practice some body prayer every day, and 2) tell you all about it. Body prayer is a new practice for most of us, and our…

This post is inspired by a practice outlined in Kalyn Falk’s book, “I Am Here: Six Postures of Prayer” which is a part of our Spirit Lab exercise in body prayer. The book is part memoir, part hand-book, exploring Kalyn’s own rich and complicated relationships with her body and her God, and giving the reader…

When people find out I’m a Christian, I can sometimes see this internal debate play out across their face. Shit. She thinks I’m going to Hell. ABORT CONVERSATION! Hang on. Am I going to Hell? Should I be worried about that? Duh, No. Uh oh, she’s still talking. What did she just say? FOCUS! Usually…

Learn more about the Jamar Clark case with independent reporting from Unicorn Riot. On March 30, when County Attorney Mike Freeman announced that there would be no charges in the fatal police shooting of Jamar Clark, my neighbors took to the streets, and I went with them. Hundreds of us marched to the Government Center,…

When I tell people that I’ve only recently become a Lutheran, they usually ask about my upbringing. My standard short answer is to say “it was complicated.” The longer story is that I was raised in an intentionally ecumenical home. My father’s family was devoutly Catholic; my mother’s, devoutly protestant. When I was young we…